Administrative, logistical, and facility support to help maintain the research laboratory and adjacent administrative space for combined use of NVITAL and the VPPL

Introduction The Vaccine Research Center (VRC) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was established to facilitate research in vaccine development. The VRC is dedicated to improving global human health through the rigorous pursuit of effective vaccines for human diseases including HIV, agents with bioterrorism potential, emerging infectious diseases (such as Zika Virus) and re-emerging infectious diseases (such as pandemic influenza and Ebola). The VRC is dedicated to translating the latest concepts in disease pathogenesis and immunology into new vaccine strategies, providing safe and effective means to prevent and control human diseases. The Administrative, Logistical, and Facility Support Services for NVITAL (NIAID Vaccine Immune T-Cell and Antibody Laboratory) and the VPPL (Vaccine Production Program Laboratory) laboratories are both part of the VRC but are too large to be housed at the VRC's building on the NIH campus. Off campus contractor administrative, logistical, and facility support services are required to support these laboratories. At this time, VRC has a need to expand various research resource capabilities at the 9 West Watkins research and development facility in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The research resource expansion is necessary to ensure that the VRC can more efficiently and effectively conduct research on experimental vaccine production in preparation for infectious disease outbreaks globally. Most of the effort entails preparing various spaces at the 9 West Watkins location for additional scientific equipment or expansion of existing scientific operations. The details of this effort have been developed in a set of documents prepared by a local architectural firm, with specialists in the technical requirements and implementation of research resources within the 9 West Watkins facility. Additionally, extensive quality assurance will be required to ensure that the modification fully meets requirements of VRC research, is appropriate within the 9 West Watkins facility, and complies with any local jurisdictional requirements or inspections. Description The Division of Extramural Activities (DEA), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), has an existing contract (Contract No. HHSN272201600041C) for "Administrative, Logistical and Facility Support of NVITAL and VPPL" with Innovative Consulting and Management Services, LLC (ICMS). This contract was awarded on a competitive basis, for a five-year period, beginning Septmber 19, 2016, with the purpose of providing administrative, logistical, and facility support to help maintain the research laboratory and adjacent administrative space for combined use of NVITAL and the VPPL. The ICMS Company holds the lease of the 9 West Watkins Mill Road facility on behalf of the VRC. As part of the scope of the existing contract, ICMS oversees the daily operation of the facility in conjunction with the property building owner. Furthermore, ICMS is contracted to work with the building owner to manage facility modifications as they are needed by the VRC. The resource research expansion discussed above, in the Introduction, will require a direct liaison with the owner of the building, with whom only ICMS has a lease. Furthermore, ICMS has nearly two years of specialized experience in providing administrative, logistical, and facility support of the building, as well as establishing and maintaining all necessary components of the facility core infrastructure necessary to meet the facility's day to day needs. Specifically, the Contractor will be responsible for the following: 1. Develop a plan of action (schedule) to manage implementation of research resources changes a. The plan is to include a specific schedule with various action steps for all parties included, the vendors needed to perform the work, and the discussions and agreement needed by the owner of 9 West Watkins regarding the process and approvals, as well as complete cost estimates with detailed back-up. b. This plan of action is to be submitted within 10 working days after the award of this modification for review and discussion with the Government. c. Based on approval of the process and timing, the Contractor is to proceed with developing contractual relationships as appropriate to begin the actual work efforts. d. The primary actions to be included are defined in the technical documents that accompany this Statement of Work as Attachment 1. A summary of those actions is described below: i. VRC VACCINE IMMUNOLOGY PROGRAM (VIP), ROOMS 136-138 - A detailed plan of action to relocate existing scientific equipment and install new scientific equipment to achieve the desired outcome of a new translational laboratory. ii. VRC VACCINE PRODUCTION LABORATORY (VPPL), ROOM 225 - A detailed plan of action to include all facets of the planning, implementation and logistics to move the VPPL Tox Lab from Rooms 136-138 to Room 225. iii. 9WW EXPANDED FREEZER ROOM - A detailed plan of action to include all facets of the planning, implementation and logistics to create a suitable area for up to 22 freezers (-80/-20oC) within an existing room in the basement of 9 West Watkins. iv. BACTERIAL SUITE, ROOMS 908 AND 909 - A detailed plan of action to include all facets of the planning, implementation and logistics to accommodate a new bacterial vector research in Rooms 908 and 909. v. BULK LABORATORY GASES STORAGE (LN2 AND CO2) - A detailed plan of action to include all facets of the planning, implementation and logistics to accommodate new bulk storage laboratory gases outside of the 9 West Watkins facility, within close range to support the pilot plant and related scientific operations. 2. Oversee work efforts to ensure work quality a. Provide quality assurance oversight to ensure that the technical details of the work effort are property implemented, tested, and validated. The specific actions for quality assurance is as follows: i. Submit reviews of products to be installed within the facility as defined by the attached technical documents. ii. Processing Requests for Information (RFIs) that are program driven, technical, or regulatory from a local jurisdictional viewpoint. iii. Site meetings and conference calls which should occur at a minimum on a weekly basis starting with a kick off meeting that defines everyone's roles, communication plan, and the approach for resolution of conflicts and issues. iv. Recordation of meetings, conference calls, and key discussions as relevant to quality assurance documentation, resolution of conflicts, and associated findings. v. Field coordination and resolution of conditions which can involve unexpected site visits with a short response timeframe. vi. Final quality assurance inspections of the work to result in technical validation for the Government that the work was correctly implemented and can properly receive the research resource intended for that location. vii. Updating documentation, included changes to "as-built" conditions, meeting notes, reports, findings, and related CAD documents delivered within 2 weeks of work completion to NIAID. b. Develop and execute any and all agreements with the owner of 9 West Watkins, so as to ensure that the owner is fully apprised of the Government's intent and signs off on the same. This may include: i. Clearly defining the work execution approach and delineating the requirements of the owner, as well as the Contractor. ii. Obtaining any requirements from the owner necessary to move forward. iii. Providing full updates and awareness to the COR of the owner's requirements, and any aspects which may be negotiated. iv. Determine any inspections, notifications or related processes that should be undertaken as appropriate to ensure jurisdictional approvals are met and accepted. 3. Assist with scientific operational details to ensure equipment functionality a. Develop a freezer monitoring method by expansion of the existing Rees monitoring system located within 9 West Watkins to include the new additional freezers as defined within the technical documents. b. Develop any appropriate alarm notifications to the building automation system (BAS), if necessary. If contact with the BAS is needed, approval from the owner is necessary prior to moving forward with this action. The NIAID intends to negotiate, under the authority of FAR Part 6.302-1 and HHSAR Part 306.302-1, on a sole source basis with ICMS, to modify the existing contract to provide a change to the current Statement of Work (SOW) for the above activites which are outside the originally intend SOW.The NIAID VRC contractor, ICMS, is the only vendor with a contractual relationship with the owner of the 9 West Watkins property which is part of their research resources support contract to NIAID VRC. Part of the contractual agreement is that the ICMS has leased nearly all of the 9 West Watkins property leased as the "tenant" (less a small 2,600 square foot administrative area which is leased by NIH directly). Based on the terms of the lease between ICMS and the 9 West Watkins building owner, only ICMS is able to transact the proposed changes. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals. However, responsible sources may express their interest by submitting a capability statement. All capability statements received within fifteen days from the date of the publication of this notice will be considered by the Government. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract action based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement.